Drug charge nets prison term

Mishawaka man sentenced Friday.

Mishawaka man sentenced Friday.

May 24, 2008|DEBRA HAIGHT Tribune Correspondent

CASSOPOLIS -- A Mishawaka man was sentenced to spend the next four years in prison for possession with intent to deliver 168 grams of cocaine. He was stopped by police Jan. 8 on U.S. 12 in Edwardsburg. On Friday, Cass Circuit Judge Michael Dodge sentenced Kyle Stahl, 24, of White Oaks Drive, Mishawaka, to 51 months to 20 years in prison on the cocaine charge. He received credit for 137 days already served on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. Stahl must pay $980 in fines and costs. "The defendant is a significant cocaine player and dealer," Prosecutor Victor Fitz said. "Clearly he is a player in that arena and he had a very significant amount of cocaine on him when he was stopped." Defense attorney Dale Blunier said Stahl had no prior record and is working to turn his life around. "He sits before you a young man who is scared of what's about to happen to him," Blunier told Dodge. Stahl himself spoke of the changes he's made in his life since being in jail, including getting his high school diploma and counseling. He said his goal is to pursue a career in the sheet metal industry and to counsel troubled youth. Dodge said he couldn't find substantial and compelling reasons to deviate from the sentencing guidelines of 51 to 85 months. "Just look at the quantity of cocaine you were in possession of. We're not talking about a couple of rocks but 168 grams," he said. Also sentenced to prison Friday was Robert Crawford for a third-offense driving while intoxicated conviction. He was stopped by police Dec. 13 on Redfield Road in Milton Township. Crawford, 50, of Kessington Road in Union, was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison with credit for 55 days already served. He must pay $120 in fines and costs. Dodge noted Crawford registered 0.14 percent blood-alcohol on a preliminary breath test and later was tested to have a 0.18. Dodge said Crawford had 19 previous convictions, including two other non-prison sentences for third-offense driving while intoxicated. In a theft case, Michael Fields of Sturgis was sentenced to 365 days in jail for larceny in a building. He was accused of the theft of power tools from a garage belonging to Jennifer and Todd Weaver on Tharp Lake Road in Cassopolis on April 16, 2007. Fields, 28, of Gateway Village, Sturgis, was given credit for 232 days already served and must pay $120 in fees and $12,487.56 in restitution. He faces charges in LaGrange County and is in jail on another theft sentence from St. Joseph County, Mich. "He was heavily into meth and involved in a stolen property mill," Fitz said. "Meth has a terrible impact on the community. He had no regard for the safety of others when it comes to meth and the thefts." Dodge sentenced four others on drug-related charges:

Sean Austin, 24, of Fourth Avenue, Three Rivers, was sentenced to 180 days in jail and $160 in fines, costs and restitution for second-offense possession of marijuana on Oct. 14 in Cassopolis.

Jennifer Kurzhal, 22, of Helena, Dowagiac, received a 60-day sentence with credit for 44 days served for possession of meth April 9 at Vineyard Place, Dowagiac.

Clara Peters, 49, of South Lowe Street, Dowagiac, was sentenced to 365 days in jail with credit for 129 days served for two counts of delivery/manufacture of cocaine-second offense, Oct. 5 and 17 in Dowagiac. She was sentenced to 300 days for second-offense maintaining a drug house on Oct. 5 in Dowagiac. She must pay a total of $365 in fines, costs and restitution.

Kathryn Scheper, 44, of McCain Lane, Edwardsburg, was sentenced to three concurrent 60-day jail terms for two counts of possession of meth, on Dec. 21 and March 25, in Edwardsburg and one count of maintaining a drug house March 25 in Edwardsburg. She also was placed on two years probation and ordered to pay $1,769 in fines, costs and restitution.